WASHINGTON - Fifty-seven volunteers from all over the country converged on the Capitol Tuesday to be honored as "the best of America" with the Jefferson Awards for Public Service. And Carolyn Leavens, of Ventura County, Calif., still can't figure out why she was there.“I'm ..

Samantha Wright, 16, a junior at Collierville High School in Collierville, Tenn., created a program at the Memphis Central Hospital, “Rock-A-Bye Reader,” through which she encourages parents to read to their children.Because of that program, the Commercial Appeal in Memphis nominated ..

WASHINGTON – The Rev. Wendell Mettey made his first trip to Nicaragua in 1990 with a suitcase full of supplies to help poor people in the war-torn Central American nation. Now, he sends millions of pounds of goods, including shoes, soap and paper, each year to those in need around the ..

American Indian groups asked the Senate Indian Affairs Committee Wednesday to help stop the building of roads, shooting ranges and other development projects in or near sacred Indian sites in Georgia, South Dakota, California and Wyoming. The most contentious issue discussed surrounded Bear Butte, ..

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz told the House Armed Services Committee Wednesday that recent attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq “don't have the support of the general populace.”Wolfowitz said the attackers are “remnants of a dying cause” and that U.S. troops must ..

For individuals working at minimum wage and trying to raise a family in Loudoun County, Va., and surrounding areas, it can be difficult to make ends meet. A person making the federal minimum wage, $5.15 an hour, working 40 hours a week brings home about $11,000 a year. In Loudoun County, where the ..

As the House of Representatives passed a Republican-sponsored child tax credit bill Thursday, Alabama Reps. Spencer Bachus, R, and Artur Davis, D, illustrated how contentious the issue has become.Bachus, during the pre-vote debate, again pronounced child tax credits for lower income families a form ..

Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor defended accusations by Democrats Wednesday that he was too biased in his Christian viewpoints to serve on the federal bench.Pryor, nominated by President Bush to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, repeatedly said his Roman Catholic convictions would ..

WASHINGTON - While most people are acquainted with Anne Frank through her famous diary, a new exhibit at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is giving readers a chance to see another side of her, one that is more introspective and showcases her as a writer.The exhibit, “Anne Frank the Writer: ..

Establishing law and order, creating jobs, training an Iraqi army and working with the Iraqi people to create a constitution are the primary goals of Ambassador L. Paul Bremer and others working in Iraq, Bremer told a House committee Thursday.Bremer said the process of reconstruction will be long ..